Two leading outdoor shoe companies in the Montebelluna region, La Sportiva and Scarpa, have launched interesting new and well-engineered touring ski products, catering to a winter sport that continues to develop rapidly although the number of dedicated skis, boots and bindings sold annually is said to be still below 300,000 pairs.
In a major diversification, La Sportiva presented its first line of mountaineering skis at the last Ispo show. Made at the former Tunisian ski factory of Nanni Tua, an Italian pioneer in this niche segment, it makes use of lightweight carbon fiber like the Stratos for superior performance. La Sportiva launched this ultralight touring ski boot two years ago, and it was worn by several winning champions at the recent World Ski Cup.
La Sportiva has also put out now a less expensive ski touring boot in plastic and a set of bindings, both based on the Dynafit system. In agreement with their manufacturer, It is marketing different bindings in the U.S. and the rest of the world, however.
Scarpa, which had already presented some new ski mountaineering boots a year ago, showed a more advanced model at the last Ispo that combines plastic, carbon fiber and other materials, strategically placed in different parts of the product.
